Rand Paul Plans Bill to Cut Off Further Funding for Egypt

Sen. Rand Paul said on Monday that he would seek legislation to block Egypt from receiving any additional aid from the United States until President Mohammed Morsi publicly acknowledges the 1978 Camp David Accords and Israel as an independent state.

“I don’t think he’ll publicly say it,” the Kentucky Republican told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “I think he’s catering to this radical Islamic mob — and I’m afraid he will not uphold the treaty, and he probably ought to say so before he gets any more money.”

Earlier this month, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would release $250 million in American aid to support the country's “future as a democracy.”

The funds come as $85 billion in widespread budget cuts took effect March 1 under the sequester. Among the casualties of the reductions include tours of the White House, tuition assistance for members of the nation’s armed forces — and possibly even the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn scheduled for April 1.

“He couldn’t find money to fund the White House tours, but Obama somehow found $250 million to give to the radical Islamic government of Egypt,” Paul told Hannity. “It makes no sense at all.”

The Camp David Accords, reached between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, led to the signing of a peace treaty six months later. The treaty formally ended the state of war that had begun with Israel’s founding in 1948 — and the Jewish state agreed to withdraw in stages from the Sinai Peninsula.

The treaty also called for normal diplomatic relations between the countries.

Israel, however, has not implemented the provisions calling for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza. The issue has caused much conflict over the years — including bloodshed inspired in recent weeks by the Islamic Hamas group in Gaza.